A recession is two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. We have not had that. Therefore, it isn't clear that we are in a recession because we aren't.
That is the technical macroeconomic definition and is based on government numbers, which are unreliable propaganda statistics in my opinion. In a broader sense, there clearly is a economic slowdown, due to the bear market, real estate mess, Fed cutting rates like crazy, rising unemployment, falling earnings and reduced consumer discretionary spending dollars.